1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to card package production systems of the type that automatically produce card packages of cards, such as credit cards, to matching carrier forms for mailing, and more particularly to a mechanism and method for attaching the cards to the carriers through use of adhesive labels.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Card package production systems that produce card packages comprised of cards, such as plastic credit or debit cards, to matching paper carriers that bear printed information including the card owner's name and address in a location for viewing through a window envelope into which the carrier packages are ultimately inserted, or “stuffed”, for mailing to the owner.
In some card package production systems the cards are mechanically attached to the carriers by means of die cut slots while in others the cards are directly adhered to the carriers by adhesive or by means of double-sided adhesive pads. In some systems, the cards, the carriers or both are produced by the system before attachment. In others, the cards or the carriers are provided to the system in a pre-prepared condition. In either event, in known systems the card and carriers travel unidirectionally towards each other and meet at an attaching or insertion station at which the cards are actually attached to the matching carriers, and the loaded carriers pass to a folding station at which the loaded carriers are folded before completion and insertion into an envelope.
Examples of such card package production systems in which the cards are mechanically attached to the carriers are shown in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/081,312, filed May 19, 1998, of Bretl et al. and entitled “Card Package Production System with a Multireader Card Track and Method”, and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,544 issued Feb. 27, 1996 to Hill et al. and entitled “Automatic Verified Embossed Card Package Production Methods”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,395 issued Jul. 30, 1996 to Hill et al. and entitled “Card Package Production System with Burster and Code Reader”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,815 issued Feb. 14, 1995 to Hill et al. and entitled, “Embossed Card Package Production System with Modular Inserters for Multiple Forms”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,886 issued Apr. 23, 1996 to Hill et al. for “Card Package Production System with Modular Carrier Folding Apparatus for Multiple Forms”; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,364 issued Jul. 18, 1995 to Hill et al. for “Card Package Production System with Burster and Carrier Verification Apparatus”, all assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and all of which together with the references cited therein are hereby incorporated by reference.
While mechanical attachment mechanisms are successful, they are capable of being readily separated from the carrier. A problem with cards that are adhered directly to the carriers is that they cannot be easily removed and sometime the adhesive sticks to the card after removal from the carrier.
While double-sided adhesive labels, or pads, overcome the problem of adhesive sticking to the card after removal they are generally believed to be not as secure. It is of the utmost importance that the cards are adhered to the carriers sufficiently to prevent their separation during further processing. In addition, the card should remain attached to the carrier when the card and carrier are removed from an envelope by the ultimate user of the card upon receipt in the mail until it is intentionally removed. A card package production system in which the cards are attached by means of a double-sided adhesive label or pad is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,896,725 issued to Lundstrom et al.
In the known card package production system that employs use of double-sided adhesive labels to attach the cards to the carriers, the cards can be selectively placed at different locations on the carrier this is accomplished by means of an attachment apparatus that requires multidirectional movement by a card attachment mechanism in addition to unidirectional movement the carriers.